Slander and Facts

Written:Written on July 5 (18), 1917Published:Published inListok “Pravdy”, July 19 (6), 1917.

      Published according to the newspaper text.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1977,

      Moscow,Volume 25,

      pages163-164.Translated:Transcription\Markup:R. CymbalaPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive.  

      2002You may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work, as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

Animmense torrent of abuse and slander is being poured
      on the Bolsheviks for the demonstration of July 3 and
      4.

Theygo so far as to accuse the Bolsheviks of “trying to
      seize the city”, of wanting to “violate” the
      will of the Soviets, of “encroaching on the authority of
      the Soviets”, and so on, and so forth.

Thefacts, however, show that the Bolsheviks didnotseize a single building, a single institution, let alone a
      section of the city (although they could have),nortried to do so even though the people were armed.

Thefacts show that the onlypoliticalact of violenceagainst an institutionoccurred on the night of July
      4-5, when the military cadets and Cossacks wreckedPravdaon Polovtsev’s orders,without the knowledge
      and against the will of the Soviet.

Thisis a fact.

Itwas a deliberate, malicious use of force against an entire
      institution, an “encroachment” and
      “violation” not in words, but in deeds. Had this
      encroachment been lawful, either the Provisional Government or
      the Soviet would have sanctioned the measure.Neither
      authority, however, did so.Those who committed violence
      against“Pravda” received no supporteither
      in the Soviet or in the Provisional Government.

TheBolsheviks appealed to the soldiers who had started the
      demonstration to actpeaceably and in an organised way.

Neitherthe Provisional Governmentnorthe Soviet
      appealed to the military cadets, the Cossacks or Polovtsev to
      act peaceably and in an organised, lawful way.

But,we are told, there was shooting.

Yes,there was. But who did the shooting? Who dares blame it on
      anyone without an investigation?

Pleaselisten to awitness from bourgeois quarters.

Thiswitness is the paperBirzheviye Vedomosti, evening
      edition of July 4—a witness whom nobody in the world could
      suspect of partiality towards the Bolsheviks! Here is what the
      witness says:

“At2 p.m. sharp, when the armed demonstrators were passing the
	Sadovaya and Nevsky corner and a large number of spectators were
	watching them quietly, adeafening shot rang out from the right side
	of Sadovaya, after which disorderly firing began.”

“At2 p.m. sharp, when the armed demonstrators were passing the
	Sadovaya and Nevsky corner and a large number of spectators were
	watching them quietly, adeafening shot rang out from the right side
	of Sadovaya, after which disorderly firing began.”

Andso, even the witness from the bourgeois paper is compelled
      to admit the truth, namely, that the shootingbegan from the
      right side of Sadovaya!!Surely this is a clear enough
      indication that the shooting was aimedat the
      demonstrators.

Isit really so difficult to appreciate that if the
      demonstrators had planned or wished to use force,they would
      have
      sent people against a definite institution, as Polovtsev
      sent military cadets and Cossacks againstPravda?Since
      sailors were killed, and since the witness from the bourgeois
      paper says that the shooting was started “from the right
      side of Sadovaya” “when the armed demonstrators were
      passing”, isn’t this obvious enough proof that it
      wasthe Black Hundreds, the opponentsof democracy, the
      quarters close to the Cadets, that wanted and were bent on
      violence?